CRUISE CONTROL
No Costa or Kante but Blues motor on
For 11 games, this Chelsea charge was personified by the snarling aggression of Diego Costa and the tireless legs of N’Golo Kante. For their 12th win, at Christmas, it was about the supreme skill and ball trickery of Eden Hazard, with a dash of brilliance from Pedro rodriguez and another clean sheet.
No Costa, no Kante, no problem. Twelve league wins in a row is a new club record and concern will ripple down the table as rivals wonder how on earth they might be stopped.
Chelsea are on top going into 2017 and perhaps the most ominous aspect of this sequence of victories is that Antonio Conte’s team seem capable of clearing hurdles of different shapes and sizes.
Defend like West Bromwich Albion and they batter away until they find a late winner. Attack like Manchester City and they pick you off with lethal counter-attacks.
Take out the 12-goal leading scorer and the midfield dynamo and Hazard responds with a delightful display of old-school dribbling, like the kid who found a new ball under the tree.
His display was a joy to behold for all but Eddie Howe and the Bournemouth defenders charged with keeping him quiet, and was capped by a penalty, won by himself and coolly converted for his 50th Premier League goal.
Pedro opened the scoring in the first half with a wonderful curling shot and grabbed a third in the final seconds of stoppage-time with a deflected finish, although it was later credited as a Steve Cook own goal. During the moments when they came under threat, Thibaut Courtois stood firm. Courtois has conceded only twice during the 12-match run and one of them was an own goal.
Against Bournemouth, he made fine saves to deny Jack Wilshere and Benik Afobe at key moments.
The only snag for Conte was a yellow card for Pedro, which means he will be banned from Saturday’s game at home against Stoke. But with confidence soaring at Stamford Bridge and both Costa and Kante back in the fray after serving their one-match bans, it will not trouble the Chelsea boss.
The New Year games mark the halfway stage in the campaign and there is a long way to go, of course, but Chelsea are purring.
‘I think today we sent a good message,’ said Conte. ‘A lot of people waited to see if we could lose points in this game without two really important players, Costa and Kante. It didn’t happen and I am pleased because I can count on all my players in the squad.
‘I hope to continue until the end of the season,’ smiled Conte, when asked if his team could go on winning. ‘The record is not important if you don’t reach something at the end. The only thing that is important is the table but with these 12 wins we took 36 points and the table is fantastic.’
Chelsea went ahead midway through the first half. Hazard dropped deep, spun and found Cesc Fabregas, who threaded a short pass into the feet of Pedro on the fringes of the penalty box.
There was still plenty to do as Pedro accepted the ball under pressure, and he shifted it from under his feet before clipping the sweetest left-footer over Artur Boruc and into the top corner.
Four minutes into the second half and Hazard was running at Bournemouth again. When he was tripped by Simon Francis, referee Mike Jones pointed to the spot. The visitors had been aggrieved by a series of decisions going against them in the first half, but this was difficult to dispute.
Hazard picked himself up and sent Boruc the wrong way. It was his ninth goal of the season.
Hazard continued to mesmerise with his slalom runs. Boruc saved from Willian and both Victor Moses and Hazard fired wide when they ought to have hit the target.
Bournemouth boss Howe sent on Junior Stanislas and Afobe in an attempt to salvage something, but his team were increasingly vulnerable on the break and Wilshere hobbled through the closing minutes while suffering badly from cramp.
Pedro completed the scoring with a lung-bursting run and a shot which was helped into the net by a heavy deflection off Cook.
The Spain striker is another comeback star of Chelsea’s return to form and another reason for Conte to feel rather pleased with the season so far.
Howe admitted his side couldn’t handle Chelsea’s movement and reserved special praise for Hazard.
‘I thought he was outstanding today,’ said the Bournemouth manager. ‘When you have him and Pedro and Willian counterattacking at such pace, it’s difficult. That was where we fell short.
‘We gave them too many times to get in those situations, by not being tight enough on the ball and good enough on the ball.’